Post by natalie on Oct 17, 2016 11:02:31 GMT -5
The Wolf Family Murders: North Dakota's Most Brutal Crime
By Jessica Ferri, The Line Up, October 11, 2016
In April 1920, the seven slaughtered members of the Wolf family, as well as their stable boy, were laid to rest in Turtle Lake, North Dakota. At the time of the funeral, the identity of their killer remained a mystery. The only survivor of the gruesome attack was the youngest, 8-month-old Emma Wolf.
Three weeks later, a neighbor named Henry Layer confessed to the brutal crime. Layer’s confession was as bizarre as it was ghastly. He claimed he had gone to the Wolf family farm to complain about Wolf’s dog attacking one of his cows. Patriarch Jacob Wolf, 41, told Layer to get off his property and proceeded to load his shotgun. There was a scuffle and the shotgun discharged, shooting and killing both Beata Wolf, 36, and the family’s stable boy, Jacob Hofer, 13, who was standing nearby. Jacob Wolf fled on foot, but Layer gave chase and killed him.
When they heard gunfire, daughters Maria and Edna Wolf, ages 9 and 7, respectively, went into the barn, where Layer killed them. Then he went into the house where he found the remaining Wolf children, Bertha, 12, Liddia, 5, and 3-year-old Martha. He shot and killed Bertha and Liddia and took a hatchet to Martha. He carelessly covered the bodies in the barn with dirt and hay, took those in the house to the cellar and then returned to work on his farm.
Two days later, a neighbor noticed the Wolf family’s laundry was still hanging on the line and went over to investigate. He discovered the horrid scene, as well as baby Emma in her crib – alive, but weak from cold and hunger.
The crime would go down as North Dakota’s most brutal mass murder. More than 2,500 people attended the funeral in little Turtle Lake, though the population at that time was no more than 395.
Folks could help noticing that Layer was acting suspiciously, opening all eight coffins of the deceased and “gazing on their faces.” He was arrested on May 11 and soon signed a confession. He claimed the only reason he didn’t kill baby Emma was because he didn’t know she was there. He was sentenced to life in prison and died in custody in 1925.
As the state’s most notorious crime, historians have often revisited the Wolf Family murders, raising questions as to whether Layer’s confession was coerced. Indeed, Layer maintained his innocence while behind bars, claiming authorities strong-armed him during their interrogation. On one occasion, he told the prison barber the police had beaten the confession out of him. He then broke down, weeping, proclaiming his innocence and crying, “Oh, my children. My children.”
The fate of Layer’s children he had five with his second wife plus one from her previous marriage – is not entirely clear. According to some reports, all but one was sent to live with relatives after their mother remarried. Others indicated they all became wards of the sate. The eldest, Blanche, eventually married and died in Seattle in 1981.
Little orphaned Emma Wolf (above) was brought up by her aunt and uncle and lived until 2003, when she died at the age of 84.
Though we may never know with any certainty if Layer committed the murderers, the photograph of those caskets: four large, two medium-sized and two small, is a haunting image, indeed. Locals still ruminate over the story of the Wolf family, whose tombstone reads in German: “Die ermordete Famielie” (The Murdered Family), who lie side by side in the Turtle Lake Cemetery.